Czech Zagreb exhibition unveils stories of community, contribution

The exhibition "Czechs for Zagreb / Zagreb for Czechs" will open on Wednesday, 18 June at the Zagreb City Museum to mark the 151st anniversary of the Czech Beseda Zagreb association. It will present around sixty biographies of notable individuals of Czech origin.

The exhibition commemorates the anniversary of one of the oldest minority associations in Croatia, founded in 1874, CE Report quotes HINA.

Members of the Czech minority have been active in Zagreb for a century and a half, preserving their national identity while also integrating into Croatian society as recognisable contributors to its development. They have made their mark on education, culture, science and architecture, as well as technological and economic progress in the Croatian capital, and some have distinguished themselves in the arts, the exhibition announcement notes.

In return, Zagreb became a second home for Czech immigrants and a birthplace for their descendants, with Croatia ultimately becoming a homeland for both groups, the organisers emphasise.

The concept of the exhibition was developed on the basis of existing research into individuals of Czech origin who played prominent roles in the history of Zagreb from the Middle Ages to the present day. Although the anniversary of Czech Beseda Zagreb provided the occasion for the exhibition, the criteria for selecting individuals and presenting their contributions was not based on ethnicity, but on local roots. For this reason, the exhibition features not only ethnic Czechs but also individuals from the Czech lands who were German or Jewish.

In addition to the sixty biographies of notable individuals, the exhibition includes expert texts on place names, institutions, buildings and the interweaving of artistic, educational and religious influences within the Central European cultural sphere. These provide visitors with an opportunity to learn about or expand their knowledge of local, national and transnational history. The biographies and accompanying texts, presented alongside exhibits and digitised reproductions from the museum's collections, also offer a fresh perspective on the permanent display at the Zagreb City Museum.

The exhibition highlights the multi-ethnicity and patterns of migration characteristic of Central Europe, a region shaped for centuries by a shared political framework and similar historical circumstances. These are presented as an advantage and a driving force behind Zagreb's progress, the Museum concludes.

The exhibition was conceptualised and scripted by Goran Arčabić, Maja Arčabić and Marijan Lipovac, who is also the author of the texts, while the exhibition design was created by the Zagreb-based studio Bilić_Müller.

The exhibition will remain open until 1 March 2026.